Dr. Patricia Rickels

Dr. Patricia K. Rickels, Professor emeritus of English and Director of the Honors Program from 1979 to 2007, passed away Tuesday night. She had been under hospice care at her home since the middle of the summer.

Pat taught at ULL for 50 years, from 1957 to 2007, and was one of the most influential and beloved figures in the history of the university. Dr. Pat, as she was known to thousands of students, was a gifted and inspiring teacher, at all levels of instruction. In the UL community, she was best known as the longtime Director of the Honors Program (1979-2007), which she co-founded in 1970. Pat and Milton often opened their home to their students for classes and for end-of-semester parties.

Pat earned a B.A. at the University of Washington in 1948 and received her M.A. and Ph.D. from LSU in 1951 and 1961, respectively, with a dissertation on The Literary Career of Espy Williams, New Orleans Poet and Playwright (1852-1908). She taught in the military program in the Panama Canal Zone in 1949-52 and did postdoctoral work on Negro Literature and Culture at Southern University during the summers of 1968 and 1969.

Pat pioneered courses in folklore and African American literature in the UL English Department and was an accomplished scholar of in these areas. She co-authored, with her husband, Dr. Milton Rickels, the books Seba Smith (Twayne) and Richard Wright (Steck-Vaughn) and edited the book 1776-1976: 200 Years of Life & Change in Louisiana. Among her articles and book chapters are Memories of Lead Belly, The Folklore of Acadiana, Some Accounts of Witch Riding (which has been republished several times), The Folklore of Sacraments and Sacramentals in South Louisiana, and Lafayette Politics and the Black Citizen. She was a co-editor of Louisiana Folklore Miscellany, and for many years she worked on The Dictionary of American Beliefs and Superstitions (eventually published in 1997) as the Louisiana collector and recorded interviews with leading civil rights leaders in Louisiana for the Dupre Library archives. Most recently, she provided a long interview for a forthcoming documentary about a close friend and colleague, John Kennedy Toole, author of A Confederacy of Dunces. The film, entitled John Kennedy Toole: The Omega Point, will be released later this year.

In 1990, the Louisiana Endowment of the Humanities honored Pat and Milton Rickels as Louisiana Humanists of the Year for their contributions to the humanities and in recognition of their longtime work for civil rights, particularly on the Louisiana Council on Human Relations. Pat served on the council s board of directors for decades and held just about every office on the Council, including president. She was the Council s corresponding secretary until illness forced her to give up the post this summer, and in 1975 the council recognized her as Humanitarian of the Year. Milton and Pat also were given an LEH Special Humanities Award in 1987. And in Fall 2001, she was one of eight college faculty in the nation profiled in a special issue of College Board Review on Heroes of a Different Kind: Inspiring Students to Succeed.

In the honoring Milton and Pat Rickels as Humanists of the Year, the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities wrote that they impart to their students significant lessons in tolerance and respect for the ideas of others, the importance of self-worth, and the value of human dignity. The Rickels inspire all whose lives they touch to cherish humanity of whatever color, creed, or class. They help people appreciate what it means to be a human being.

If you knew her, or even if you just appreciate what she has done, please come attend her service.